Brush making machine



W B955 J. a. cAmsoN BRUSH MAKING MACHINE Filed March 2'7, 195]. 3Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR.

J. i. CARL$0N ,,?,,2 BRUSH MAKING MACHINE Filed March 27, 1951,

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 N O s L R A G J BRUSH MAKING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed March 27, 1951 2,709,625 nunsn MAKING MACHINE John I. Carlson,Aurora, Ill., assignor to Carlson Tool & Machine Company, a corporationof Illinois Application March 27, 1951, Serial No. 217,773

14 Claims. (Cl. 300-7) This invention relates to brush making machines.

It is the general object of this invention to produce a new and improvedbrush making machine.

It is a more specific object of this invention to produce a brush makingmachine which is provided with a dual magazine including a pair ofbristle containing boxes each adapted to contain dissimilar bristles fordelivery to the tufting apparatus of the machine.

It is a further object of this invention to produce a brush makingmachine of the type described in the preceding paragraph and to providesuch a machine with means for moving the magazine in synchronism withthe means for picking tufts from the magazine and delivering them to thetufting device for insertion in a brush back to provide for automaticselection and insertion of tufts.

Yet another object of the invention is to produce a brush making machinehaving a picker bar for picking tufts from a magazine and deliveringthem to a tufting device together with a fork which embraces the pickerbar, and to provide such a machine with means for movmaking machine ofthe type described in the preceding paragraph in which the picker bar isprovided with a slot for picking bristles from the magazine and in whichStates Patent the fork is movable vertically to determine the effectivedepth of the slot and thus to determine the quantity of bristles pickedfrom the magazine.

Another object of the invention is to produce a. brush making machinehaving a picker bar including a slot for picking bristles from amagazine and a fork embracing the picker bar and movable vertically todetermine the effective depth of the slot, and to provide such a machinewith automatically operable means for raising and lowering the fork todetermine the effective depthofthe slot.

A further object of the invention is to produce a brush making machinehaving a dual magazine including two bristle supply boxes adapted tocontain dissimilar bristles and having a picker bar including a slot forpicking bristles from the boxes and a fork embracing the picker bar andmovable vertically to determine the effective depth of the slot, and toprovide such a machine with automatically operable devices for movingthe magazine to position either box in proper position for deliveringbristles to the picker bar, said automatic means being also operable tomove the fork vertically whereby the type and amount of bristlesdelivered to the picker bar for transmission to the tufting device ofthe machine may be varied.

It is a further object of the invention to produce a brush makingmachine of the type described in'the preceding paragraphs having meansfor, preventing intermixture of dissimilar bristles held in themagazine.

Other and further objects of the invention "will be readily apparentfrom the following description and drawings, in which:

A angers Patented May 31, 1955 Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of aportion of a brush making machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view like Fig. 1 of the opposite side of the machineillustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section along line 3i-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section along line i4 of Fig. 2.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described indetail one specific embodiment, with the understanding that the presentdisclosure is to be considered as an exemplitication of the principlesof the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to theembodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed outin the appended claims.

The devices of this invention are particularly adaptable for use inconjunction with brush making machines of the general type disclosed inthe John I. Carlson Patent No. 2,415,083, reference to which may be hadfor the purpose of illustrating various other parts of the brush makingmachine not necessarily incident to the invention hereof. Such a brushmaking machine includes a frame having a horizontal base portion andvertical portions such as 11 which support the various devices whichserve to drill holes in a brush back, supply a wire staple to a. stapledriving and tufting device, and means for feeding tufts to the tuftingdevice for insertion into the drilled holes in the brush back. As theinventions hereof are concerned primarily with the means for feedingtufts to the tufting device, only those portions of the machinenecessarily incident to the inventions will be described herein.

Mounted for horizontal reciprocation on the frame member 10, is a pickerbar, generally designated as 12. The picker bar comprises two spacedportions 13 and 14, the portions at their adjacent ends beingwedge-shaped, as indicated in Fig. 4, and spaced apart to provide abristle receiving notch 15. The two portions of the picker bar are eachsecured to a tie bar 16 which serves to hold the portions together, andthe picker bar is slidable in a trackway 17 fixed to the base member itMeans, not shown in detail, are provided for reciprocating the pickerbar along the trackway 17 from the position illustrated in Fig. 2 atwhich point bristles are received into the notch 15, to a bristledelivery point to the right (as seen in that figure) where bristles aredelivered from the notch to a vertically reciprocable tufting devicewhich inserts the bristles in tufts into a brush back.

Embracing the picker bar is a fork having a pair of tines or arms 18 and19 which extend along the base along either side of the picker bar. Itwill be noted that the notch is bottomless and hence bristles areintroduced thereinto the quantity of bristles retained in the notch isdetermined by the position of the arms 15 and 19 of the fork relativethereto.

The left-hand end (as seen in Fig. 2) of the fork terminates in a yokeincluding an integral bar member 20 having a slide portion 21 verticallyslidaole in a complementary formed vertical guide recess 22 in a guidemember 23 upstanding from the base 16. As best seen in Fig. 2, the slide21 is held within the recess 22 by means of a cover plate 24 secured tothe guide member 23. A spring 25 has one end secured to the cover plateand has its other end secured to a bottom stop member 26 affixed to theupper portion of the slide 21, it being clear that the function of thespring 25 is to urge the slide, and hence the fork, downwardly. Means inthe form of an adjustable screw 27 is provided for determin- 0 ing thelowermost position of the slide and fork, the screw upper end of theguide member 23. A rectangular, cutaway portion 31 is provided in theslide 21 in which is received a finger portion 31 of a cam element 32secured by means of an integral split clamp 33 to a shaft 34 rotatablymounted on the frame. Means, hereinafter to be described, are providedfor rocking the shaft 34 to raise and lower the slide member 31 andhence to raise and lower the fork relative to the picker bar todetermine the effective depth of the slot 15. The arms at the end of thefork opposite to the slide carrying end are spread apart as indicated at35 and 36 to permit the tufting device to pass therebetween at thebristle delivery point 37. Preferably, an adjustable stop including abolt 38 threaded into the end of the fork and bearing against a portion39 of the frame is provided to level the fork in its lowermost position.

Means in the form of a magazine 40 is provided for supplying bristles tothe notch 15 in the picker bar as the same is reciprocated across thebase of the machine. The magazine 4-0 comprises a three-sided box havinga back 41 and sides 42 and 43 and is pivotally connected, through themedium of a bearing 44, to an arm 45 fastened to the vertical framemember 11. The magazine 40 is divided into two vertically elongatedbristle stock boxes 46 and 47 by a dividing wall 48.

It is contemplated that one mode of employing the apparatus of thisinvention will include the use of the boxes 46 and 47 to containdissimilar bristles, for example, the box 46 might contain nylonbristles to be gathered into tufts for insertion around the periphery ofthe brush while the box 47 may contain less expensive fiber bristles tobe inserted in the center portion of the brush. The magazine 40 ispivotally or pendulously mounted on the bearing 44 to swing either ofthe boxes into the correct position to deliver bristles to the slot 15of the picker bar.

To guide bristles as they are fed downwardly through the boxes, a pairof fixed guides 49 and 59 are secured to the inner portions of the sidewalls 42 and 43 and a pair of movable guides 51 and 52 are secured tothe center wall 48. To provide for vertical movement of the guides 51and 52, the center wall 48 is provided with a pair of verticallyelongated spaced slots 53 and the guides are held in position againstthe wall by guide lugs 54 threadedly secured to the guides and extendinginto and engaging the slots. The upper portion of the walls 51 and 52are secured together by means of a spacing member 55 through which ascrew 56 extends, the screw engaging threads in the upper side of thewall 48. A spring 57 surrounds the screw 56 and has its lower endbearing against the member 55 constantly to urge the walls 51 and 52downwardly toward the picker bar. A pair of movable walls 58 are locatedat the rear portion of each of the boxes 46 and 47 and are movableforwardly in the box to determine the depth so that the size of theboxes may be adjusted to accommodate various lengths of bristles. Eachof the walls 58 is secured to a rod &1 extending through a boss 59secured to the backside 41 of the magazine. The rods 58a may be clampedto the boss59 by the set screws shown when the walls have been moved tothe desired position.

The magazine 40 carries a pair of brackets 60 and 61 each of whichsupports rods 62 carrying presserfoot portions 63 which extend into thestock boxes 46 and 47 to press bristles 64 carried in the boxesdownwardly toward the picker bar. As the supply of bristles in the boxesdecreases, the presser foot portions are moved downwardly under theinfluence of the weights 65 secured to the top ends of each of the rods62.

In order to prevent intermixture of bristles in the boxes, a firststripper bar member 71 is movably secured to the frame and is springloaded to urge its lower edge into contact with the upper surface of thepicker bar, and is provided at its left-hand end (as seen in Fig. 2)with an upper surface 71 inclining downwardly toward the picker bar. Asthe magazine is pivoted counterclockwise to the position shown in Fig. 2(in which position the box 46 is positioned to feed bristles to thenotch 15 of the picker bar) the bottom of the box 47 is swung over thestripper bar 70. The inclined surface 71 contacts the lower end of themovable guide 51 to lift it so that the tip 72 of the stripper bar mayextend into the box 46. As the picker bar is reciprocated to the right,the end 72 of the stripper bar serves to scrape excess bristles from thetop of the picker bar to prevent their being dragged into the box 47. Asthe magazine is pivoted, the inclined surface 7.1 of the bar and the topsurface thereof serve to lift bristles in the box 47 away from the pathof movement of the picker bar so that bristles therein will not becomeentangled in the picker bar or in the notch 15 thereof to be intermixedwith bristles from the box 46. A second stripper bar 73 is positioned onthe other side of the bristle receiving point and is bifurcated, asshown in Fig. 4, to provide two arms 74 and 75 which straddle theportion 14 of the picker bar, the arms being inclined downwardly asshown. As the magazine is pivoted clockwise from the position shown inFig. 2,

the arms 74 and 75 extend into the box 46 to lift the bristles thereinout of the path of movement of the picker bar to prevent their becomingintermixed with the bristles in the box 47, while at the same time thebox 47 is moved to the position shown in Fig. 2 as occupied by the box46, thus permitting the bristles in the box 47 to rest upon the top ofthe picker bar.

The reciprocation of the various parts of the machine is accomplished bymeans of cams. One of such cams is indicated at 80, the cam being fixedto a drive shaft 81 mounted at the rear of the machine. An additionalcam 82 is also mounted upon the drive shaft for accomplishing thepivotal movement of the magazine 40 and the vertical movement of thefork in synchronous relationship with the operation of the entiremachine. To this end, a cam follower $3 rides upon the cam 82 and servesto operate a valve device 84 which is connected by means of the pipe 85to a source of air under pressure, and by means of a second pipe 86 to apneumatic piston and cylinder device 87. The piston in the device 87 isconnected to a piston rod 88 which is pivotally connected to themagazine 40. A spring 89 has one end secured to the magazine and theother end secured to a fixed portion of theframe constantly to bias themagazine to the position shown in Fig. 1. An adjustable stop device 90is provided to determine the extent of pivotal movement in thisdirection of the magazine, the device including a stop screw 91threadably received in a fitting 92 secured to the base portion 18 andadapted to bear against one of the sides of the magazine. When air isadmitted to the piston and cylinder device by operation of the valvemeans 84, the magazine is pivoted to a position bringing the box 47 tothe bristle receiving point.

An arm 93 is pivotally connected at one end to the lower'portion of themagazine and is provided at its other end with a lost motion connectionin the form of a slot 94 in which a bolt 95 is received. The bolt 95 issecured to a crank arm 96 in turn secured to the shaft 34 for moving theslide member 21 vertically.

By' means of the above described connections the magazine 40 may bepivoted at predetermined times in the cycle of operation of the machineto bring either the box 46 or the box 47 at the bristle receiving point.Simultaneously with pivotal movement of the magazine, the fork may beraised or lowered vertically to determine the effective depth of thenotch 15. By means of this arrangement, not only may dissimilar bristlesbe supplied to the picker bar to be inserted in various portions of thebrush, but the quantity of each type of bristles delivered may beregulated automatically with movement of the magazine. If the drillingdevice provided on a particular brush making machine is adapted to drillholes of different size, difierent quantities of similar bristles ordifferent quantities of dissimilar bristles may be provided for eachsize hole in the brush back. Normally, the drilling device of a brushmaking machine is adapted to drill holes of a single size. However,where bristles of different stiffness are to be inserted in the holes,fewer stiff bristles can be inserted in a hole of a given size than softbristles.

Thus it may be desired to supply stiff bristles for insertion around theperiphery or edges of the brush, and therefore when the box containingthe stiff bristles is positioned at the bristle receiving point, thefork is simultaneously raised to decrease the depth of the notch tolimit the amount of bristles which it-cancontain. Where the centralportion of the brush is to be tufted with softer bristles, the magazineis pivoted to bring the box containing such softer bristles to thebristle receiving point, while simultaneously the fork may be lowered toincrease the quantity of soft bristles which may be received in thenotch for delivery to the tufting device of the machine.

The amount that the fork is raised or lowered with rotation of the shaft34 may be determined by adjusting the position of the crank 96 relativethereto through the split clamp shown as well as by adjusting therelation of the clamp 33 to the shaft. Through this adjustment it ispossible to secure the maximum vertical movement of the fork as themagazine is pivoted or to achieve adjustment wherein no verticalmovement is imparted to the fork even though the magazine is pivoted,such as would be the case where two types of bristles are to be insertedand it is desired to have the tufts of equal size. To this end eitherthe split clamp may be loosened so that rotation of the shaft 34 doesnot occur or the clamp may be loosened and the shaft 34 rotated to apoint where rotation of that shaft induced by pivotal movement of themagazine causes the finger 31 to move without contacting the top of therecess 30. When this condition prevails, no vertical movement of theslide 21 can take place.

It will be clear from the foregoing description that the pivotalmovement of the magazine and the vertical movement of the fork may bothbe accomplished automatically in timed relationship to the operation ofthe other devices of the machine so that a minimum of attention on thepart of a machine operator is required.

I claim:

1. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar having abristle receiving notch movable from a bristle receiving point to abristle delivering point, means for feeding bristles to the picker barcomprising a magazine having two boxes each adapted to contain a supplyof bristles and movably mounted on the machine, means for moving themagazine to position either box at the bristle receiving point, andmeans positioned in the path of movement of the magazine for liftingbristles out of the path of movement of the picker bar, said last namedmeans being so located on the machine as to lift the bristles in a boxas it is moved away from the bristle receiving point.

2. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar movablefrom a bristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, means forfeeding bristles to the picker bar comprising a magazine pivotallymounted on the machine and having two vertically elongated boxes eachadapted to contain a supply of bristles and each of said boxes having anopen bottom through which bristles are discharged to the picker bar, andmeans for pivoting the magazine to position the bottom of either box atthe bristle receiving point.

3. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar movablefrom a bristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, means forfeeding bristles to the picker bar comprising a magazine having twoparallel vertically elongated boxes each adapted to contain a supply ofbristles and each of said boxes having an open bottom through whichbristles are discharged to the picker bar, supporting means for themagazine mounted for pivotal movement about an axis positioned at rightangles to the path of movement of the picker bar and locatedsubstantially vertically above the magazine to provide a pendulum-likemounting therefor, and means for pivoting the magazine about said axisto position the bottom of either box at the bristle receiving point.

4. In a brush making machine having picker bar means movable from abristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, tufting meansmovable through the delivering point to pick tufts from the picker barmeans and to insert said tufts in a brush back, and automaticallyoperating devices for actuating said means in synchronous relationshipto insert a plurality of tufts in said brush back, means for supplyingdissimilar tufting bristles to the picker bar means comprising amagazine having two boxes each adapted to contain a supply of bristlesof dissimilar character and movably mounted on the machine, and meansoperating automatically in timed relationship with said devices forpositioning one and then the other of said boxes at the bristlereceiving point.

5. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar movablefrom a bristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, means forfeeding dissimilar bristles to the picker bar comprising a magazinehaving two parallel vertically elongated boxes each adapted to contain asupply of bristles of dissimilar character and each of said boxes havingan open bottom through which bristles are discharged to the picker bar,supporting means for the magazine mounted for pivotal movement about anaxis positioned at right angles to the path of movement of the pickerbar, means for pivoting the magazine about said axis to move saidbottoms in an arcuate path passing through said bristle receiving point,and a pair of fixed members each provided with an inclined upper surfacepositioned in said arcuate path adjacent to and on either side of saidbristle receiving point, said inclined surfaces being adapted to liftthe bristles in a box as it is moved in said arcuate path away from thebristle receiving point.

6. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar movablefrom a bristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, means forfeeding dissimilar bristles to the picker bar comprising a magazinehaving two parallel vertically elongated boxes each adapted to contain asupply of bristles of dissimilar character and each of said boxes havingan open bottom through which bristles are discharged to the picker bar,supporting means for the magazine mounted for pivotal movement about anaxis positioned at right angles to the path of movement of the pickerbar, means for pivoting the magazine about said axis to move saidbottoms in an arcu-' ate path passing through said bristle receivingpoint, a pair of fixed members each provided with an inclined uppersurface positioned in said arcuate path adjacent to and on either sideof said bristle receiving point, said inclined surfaces being adapted tolift the bristles in a box as it is moved in said arcuate path away fromthe bristle receiving point and with the inclined surface on the memberpositioned between the bristle receiving point and the bristledelivering point terminating at its lower end immediately adjacent thetop of the picker bar to strip excess bristles from said top as thepicker bar moves to the delivering point.

7. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar movablefrom a bristle receiving point to a bristle delivering point, means forfeeding dissimilar bristles to the picker bar comprising a magazine, avertically slidable upright partition dividing the mag azine into twoparallel vertically elongated boxes each adapted to contain a supply ofbristles of dissimilar character and each of said boxes having an openbottom through which bristles are discharged to the picker bar,supporting means for the magazine mounted for pivotal movement about anaxis positioned at right angles to the path of movement of the pickerbar, means for pivoting the magazine about said axis to move saidbottoms in an arcuate path passing through said bristle receiving point,a pair of fixed members each provided with an inclined upper surfacepositioned in said arcuate path adjacent to and on either side of saidbristle receiving point, said inclined surfaces being adapted to liftthe bristles in a box as it is moved in said arcuate path away from thebristle receiving point and with the inclined surface on the memberpositioned between the bristle receiving point and the bristledelivering point terminating at its lower end immediately adjacent thetop of the picker bar and immediately adjacent the bristle receivingpoint whereby to raise said partition as the magazine is pivoted and toposition said lower end in the box at the bristle receiving point tostrip excess bristles from the top of the picker bar as said bar movesto the delivering point.

8. In a brush making machine, in combination, a horizontallyreciprocable picker bar having a vertical notch to receive a pluralityof bristles, a fork embracing the picker bar and having horizontallyaligned tine portions extending along either side of the picker baradjacent the slot and upon which bristles in the slot rest, and meansfor vertically adjusting the fork to vary the effective depth of thenotch.

9. In a brush making machine having a dual movable magazine forsupplying dissimilar bristles, in accordance with movement of themagazine, to a vertical notch in a picker bar mounted for horizontalreciprocation between a bristle receiving point and a bristle deliveringpoint and automatic means for moving the magazine and reciprocating thepicker bar, means for varying the quantity of bristles delivered by thepicker bar comprising a vertically movable fork embracing the pickerbar, said fork having a portion extending along each side of the pickerbar adjacent the notch and adapted to support bristles received into thenotch from the magazine, and means operated automatically with movementof the magazine for moving the fork vertically to varyv the effectivedepth of the notch.

10. In a brush making machine having a magazine for supplying bristlesto a vertical notch in a picker bar mounted for horizontal reciprocationbetween a bristle receiving point and a bristle delivering point andautomatic means for reciprocating the picker bar, means for varying thequantity of bristles delivered by the picker bar comprising a verticallymovable fork embracing the picker bar, said fork having horizontallyaligned tine portions extending along either side of the picker baradjacent the notch and adapted to support bristles received into thenotch from the magazine, and automatically operated means for moving thefork vertically to vary the effective depth of the notch.

11. In a brush making machine having a magazine for supplying bristlesto a vertical notch in a picker bar mounted for horizontal reciprocationbetween a bristle receiving point and a bristle delivering point andautomatic means for reciprocating the picker bar, means for varying thequantity of bristles delivered by the picker bar comprising a forkembracing the picker bar, said fork having a portion extending alongeach side of the picker bar adjacent the notch and adapted to supportbristles received into the notch from the magazine, a vertically movableslide carrying the fork, automatically operated means for moving theslide vertically to vary the etfective depth of the notch, and amanually adjustable bottom stop for the slide to adjust the maximumdepth of the notch.

12. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar having avertical notch and movable from a bristle receiving point to a bristledelivering point, feed means comprising a magazine pivotally mounted onthe machine and having two boxes each adapted to contain a supply ofbristles and each of said boxes having a discharge opening through whichbristles are discharged to fill the notch in .the picker bar, means forpivoting the magazine to position the discharge opening of either box atthe bristle receiving point, a vertically movable fork embracing thepicker bar, said fork having a portion extending along each side of thepicker bar adjacent the notch and adapted to support bristles receivedinto the notch from the discharge openings, and means operatingautomatically with pivotal movement of the magazine for verticallymoving the fork to vary the effective depth of the notch.

13. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar having avertical notch and movable from a bristle receiving point to a bristledelivering point, feed means comprising a magazine pivotally mounted onthe machine and having two boxes each adapt-ed to contain a supply ofbristles and each of said boxes having a discharge opening through whichbristles are discharged to fill the notch in the picker bar, means forpivoting the magazine to position the discharge opening of either box atthe bristle receiving point, a fork embracing the picker bar, said forkhaving a portion extending along each side of the picker bar adjacentthe notch and adapted to support bristles received into the notch fromthe discharge openings, a vertically movable slide carrying the fork,and a crank arm connected to the slide and to the magazine for movingthe slide with movement of the magazine.

14. In a brush making machine having a reciprocable picker bar having avertical notch, cam means for reciprocating the picker bar to positionthe notch between a bristle receiving point and a bristle deliveringpoint and drive means for rotating the cam, feed means comprising amagazine pivotally mounted on the machine and having two boxes eachadapted to contain a supply of bristles and each of said boxes having adischarge opening through which bristles are discharged to fill thenotch in the picker bar, a pneumatic piston and cylinder device securedto the magazine for pivoting the same to position the discharge openingof either box at the bristle receiving point, valve means controllingthe supply of air to said device, a cam rotated by the drive means foroperating the valve means, a fork embracing the picker bar, said forkhaving a portion extending along each side of the picker bar adjacentthe notch and adapted to support bristles received into the notch fromthe discharge openings, a vertically movable slide carrying the fork,and a crank arm connected to the slide and to the magazine for movingthe slide with movement of the magazine.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS532,735 Kimball Jan. 15, 1895 1,467,364 Fisher Sept. 11, 1923 1,641,686Nilsson Sept. 6, 1927 1,888,352 Lipps Nov. 22, 1932

